A RUNAWAY Asian girl who fled her family home was being beaten by her stepmother, Reading Crown Court heard yesterday.

Marium Begum, 20, was beaten after she fell in love with minicab driver Javid Malik, 34, the court was told.

Her family did not approve of the relationship.

When she ran away to stay in a women's refuge in Hackney, Miss Begum's family are said to have kidnapped Malik in the belief that he was hiding her somewhere.

The court heard that her family - known for owning the food chain Medina Stores in Reading - kidnapped Mr Malik on July 27 last year, eight days after her disappearance.

Mr Malik, who at the time was married but living with another woman in Reading, has subsequently married Miss Begum.

The court heard yesterday that Miss Begum's brother Asif Khan, and her uncle Javid Farooq, were the leaders of the gang alleged to have hijacked Mr Malik's minicab and held him prisoner before beating her address out of him, but both have evaded capture.

Shakeel Kayani, 34, Raja Khan, 31, Zahid Shafi, 27, all of London Road, and Mehrban Ramzan, 29, of Pell Street, who all appeared in court this week, are alleged to be part of the gang. They deny a joint charge of kidnapping and a further charge of false imprisonment from July 26 to July 29 last year.

Shafi denies one count of causing actual bodily harm during the same period and Kayani, who is alleged to have doctored work records to give him an alibi, denies another count of perverting the cause of justice on July 30 last year.

Giving evidence, Mr Malik said even when he told his kidnappers that Miss Begum was at a refuge they still believed she was living with him.

He told the court: "She just talked with me, she just rang me. Usually she was depressed because of family problems and she would ring me and I would say you should sort out your problems with your family."

The court heard police statements in which Mr Malik told police: "She is sort of my girlfriend and she told me that she loved me and wanted to marry me."

David Batcup, defending Raja Khan, put it to Mr Malik that he had implicated Khan so that he could later sue the family for compensation for his ordeal.

He said Malik had told her he could get £70,000 out of them, and would give her £10,000 if she backed up his claim.

He suggested to Mr Malik, who has been fighting

deportation back to Pakistan for several years, that he used women and any other reason he could think of to stay in the UK.

He asked if he'd exaggerated the incident to claim maximum compensation from the family but Mr Malik denied the allegation.

Tarquin McCalla, defending Zahid Shafi, told the court his defendant wasn't part of the gang and that Malik had implicated him also in a bid to get more money.

Mr McCalla said: "Your intention was to get £70,000 [from his family] and much to your annoyance the Shafi family ignored you and have not paid a penny."

Mr Malik denied ever putting in a claim for compensation and told the jury both Mehrban and Shakeel played lesser roles in the kidnap.

He described them as peacemakers called in later by the leaders to negotiate.